The Forgotten Clone
by Ael L. Bolt
Summary: (Deadfic.) A 'what if' story from Mewtwo Strikes Back. Written by Ael (Charmega) and Kat (Dark Jedi Princess). [Note: contains references to Kat's fics, please read them first.]
1. Prologue and Chapter One By Ael

The Forgotten Clone  
By Ael and Kat  
  
Disclaimer: Pokémon not ours.  
  
Setting: Prologue during Mewtwo Strikes Back, rest of story sometime in the future (waaaaaaay after Johto)  
Category: Evil Plot Bunny...er, drama/action/adventure.  
Summary: An idea Ael had while watching MTSB for the billionth time. A "what if?" story...sorta. Read to find out.  
  
  
"Isn't it strange  
Feels like I'm lookin' in the mirror  
What would people say  
If only they knew that I was...  
  
...I think I'm a clone now  
There's always two of me just a-hangin' around  
I think I'm a clone now  
'Cause every chromosome is a hand-me-down  
  
Look at the way  
We go out walking close together  
I guess you could say  
I'm really beside myself...  
  
...I think I'm a clone now  
There's always two of me just a-hangin' around  
I think I'm a clone now   
'Cause every chromosome is a hand-me-down  
  
I think I'm a clone now   
And I can stay at home while I'm out of town  
I think I'm a clone now   
'Cause every pair of genes is a hand-me-down  
  
I think I'm a clone now   
That's my genetic twin always hangin' around  
I think I'm a clone now   
'Cause every chromosome is a hand-me-down  
  
I think I'm a clone now."  
  
-"I Think I'm A Clone Now", by Weird Al Yankovic  
  
  
  
Prologue  
  
Ash didn't give his actions even a second thought.  
  
He dove into the machine, and snatched up the black-and-silver Master Ball that held his Pikachu. A swarm of clawed pincers descended and tugged on the ball, latching themselves all over his body. He kicked furiously, feeling the sharp pinpricks as his skin was punctured in a million different places.  
  
Desperate, he tore at the pincers and even went so far as to bite one, never letting go of the Master Ball. Cables snapped, sparks flew, and he eventually ripped all of them away. He landed with a thud outside of the machine, slamming the Master Ball on the conveyor belt. It opened, and Pikachu materialized.  
  
Unnoticed by Ash, clones were pouring into the green tubes at an alarming rate. Pidgeot, Sandslash, Nidoqueen... all were immediately expelled from the liquid gray force field at the bottom of the tanks. As one, they headed towards Mewtwo's stadium.  
  
But one clone didn't follow the others. As it tumbled out of the tank, it looked around in mild confusion. Spying the young boy on the conveyor belt, its eyes widened and it shrank back into the shadows, not wanting to be seen. Turning away, it fled into the labyrinth of Mewtwo's fortress, disappearing into the darkness.  
  
  
Chapter One   
  
Ash was humming a senseless tune as he walked down the road towards Pallet Town, Pikachu on his shoulder. Brock and Misty walked slightly behind him, having gotten sick of his humming several miles back.  
  
With the Legend League (A/N: Made it up. So sue me.) done and over, Ash was heading back home to take a vacation from traveling. Being the Pokémon Master was an especially demanding position, but one that Ash loved. Even so, he needed a break.  
  
Without warning, a Houndoom sprang into the road, snarling and baring her fangs. Ash's eyes lit up at the sight of the Dark Pokémon, and he reached for an empty Moon Ball.  
  
"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled. [That Pokémon's already caught!]  
  
Sighing, Ash took his hand away from his backpack and faced the Houndoom. "Where's your trainer, girl?"  
  
[My trainer is nearby, and he does not appreciate you trespassing on his domain,] the Houndoom growled, thrashing her tail. [Leave at once.]  
  
Misty and Brock watched with detached curiosity. They had long since become used to Ash talking to any Pokémon he met. He could understand them all (after several years of traveling), and they couldn't.  
  
"Why can't he come out and tell me that himself?" Ash asked the Houndoom. "Is he afraid of something?"  
  
[Do not attempt to dishonor my trainer!] She barked angrily. [He has his reasons, human.]  
  
A strangely familiar voice broke the tension. "Ease off, Darkflame. I think he of all people should know."  
  
The figure of a young man stepped out of the woods. He was dressed in jeans and a dark gray jacket, with hiking boots and a black hat to top it off. Black leather fingerless gloves were on his hands, and a pair of sunglasses hid his eyes from view. His long black hair was tied back in a ponytail.  
  
The Houndoom, who was named Darkflame, gracefully turned and sat down at his side. He scratched her head between her white curved horns, and she rumbled in pleasure.  
  
"My name is Aido. At least, that's what I've called myself for the past few years." He reached up and carefully took the sunglasses off his face, revealing chocolate-brown eyes that seemed to bore a hole right into Ash's. "But you would know me better than that."  
  
Ash's eyes widened. He actually recognized the young man.  
  
Behind him, Brock and Misty made the same connection in an instant.  
  
Aido nodded. "Yes, you understand now. My real name is Ashton Satoshi Ketchum II. Cloned at New Island, though not intentionally, I assure you." He pointed at Ash, who stood dumbstruck in front of him. "I am you." 


	2. Chapter Two By Kat

Chapter Two [Kat]  
  
Ash fell backwards in shock. Misty and Brock ran forward to catch him, and when he went unconscious, Misty slapped him to wake him up.  
  
"Ow," Ash muttered as he wrenched himself from their grasp. At least this time they had caught him before he'd fainted from shock. It was a habit he'd evidentally picked up from his father, Sean Davis Ketchum, although he'd only actually fainted once before, when he'd met his long lost twin sister, Jadena, about six years back.  
  
"Ash, how did this happen?" Misty asked.  
  
"Uh."  
  
At that precise moment, a small, whitish-pink figure zipped past, knocking Aido's hat off. Darkflame caught it with her mouth, and gave it back to him. Just as he was putting it back on, another, taller figure leapt from some bushes on the side of the road.  
  
"MEW! GET BACK HERE RIGHT NOW!"  
  
The Mew stopped instantly and giggled, then sped off again as the figure swiped at her.  
  
"Oh, great," Ash muttered. Aido had both eyebrows raised.  
  
"Who is that?"  
  
"That would b_"  
  
"Erin Morgan Sullivan," The woman said as she levitated in midair. "Unfortunately, I'm trying to catch my Mew, so, if you'll excuse me." Erin dove for her Mew, catching her, and then tumbling onto the ground. Mew struggled to wrench herself free from Erin's grasp, but to no avail. Erin recalled her, sighed, then stood up. "I must apologize for my Mew's behavior. She doesn't mean to be this way, she just. is."  
  
"What?" Ash said. "Can't you control your Pokémon anymore?"  
  
Erin scowled. "Shove it, Ash."  
  
"Is she your rival?" Aido asked.  
  
"No, actually, I'm his best friend and traveling companion," Erin said, smirking.  
  
"You should see the way she treats her enemies," Misty said, smiling.  
  
Erin turned to Ash. "What's been taking so long? We expected you back by now."  
  
"I know, but. we ran into trouble, as you can see."  
  
"I'm Aido," Aido said. "At least, that's."  
  
"I know."  
  
Aido looked shocked. "But, how.?"  
  
"I was listening in on your conversation. Then Mew Teleported off and decided to play a trick on you guys." Erin shrugged. "Should we just go ahead and Teleport back to Pallet?"  
  
"Yeah, maybe. Hey, Aido, wanna come?"  
  
"I suppose. But can you Teleport Darkflame? She is a Dark Type."  
  
"Of course." She winked, and, in an instant, they were standing on Ash's front porch. Erin opened the door. The five of them (six if you counted Darkflame) stepped over the threshold. "Hey, Ash's back," Erin called. Out. No response. From anyone. She turned to Ash. "I think your parents are upstairs. And Lance isn't here yet. Jadena said she was going out." She frowned. [I know you're here,] She called out to her favorite Pokémon. Mewtwo floated out into the living room, with a papaya in hand. His eyes widened as he spotted Aido.  
  
[YOU?!] 


	3. Chapter Three by Ael and an apology

Chapter Three [Ael]  
  
Aido's surprise was equally a match for Mewtwo's. "Uhh..."  
  
How did you ever get off the island? I was certain you were still there when I left... Mewtwo was still partly in shock.  
  
Aido frowned fiercely. "Well, I rescued myself, thank you very much. Had to capture a Gyarados to do it, but it wasn't that hard, even without Pokémon."  
  
Everyone shot him odd glances at that, but they didn't get to say anything because at that very moment, Delia and Sean came down the stairs. "What's going on down here?" Sean asked, and then he looked over at the group. The sight of a duplicate Ash was enough to cause him to lose his balance and fall the rest of the way down the stairs. Predictably, unconsciousness resulted.  
  
Delia merely looked over at Ash and Aido without surprise. Then she walked the rest of the way down the stairs and slapped Sean on the face.  
  
"Ouch!" he exclaimed as he woke up.  
  
"You really need to break that habit, you know," she said.  
  
"I know, I know..." He stood up. "So what's the big deal, anyway?"  
  
Mewtwo had the good grace to look embarrassed. It's a long story.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
After Mewtwo and Aido explained about the accident involving Aido's creation, with a few comments from Ash, the situation was mostly ignored. Delia, of course, acted as if she'd always had another son. Sean was a bit more uneasy about this duplicate, but after Aido began to show off Darkflame he became more comfortable around his "new" son.  
  
Eventually, Ash got around to asking his twin to a Pokémon battle. Aido looked over at him, amused. "You sure that's what you want, Ash?"  
  
"You bet it is!"  
  
Aido stood up and shrugged. "If that's what you want, so be it. Meet you at our hidden battle field in five minutes, I've got to get my main battle team and I'm sure you do as well."  
  
"Yeah!" Ash ran for the front door, missed it, smacked facefirst into the wall, then tried again, this time making it out the door itself. He left a rather impressive Ash-shaped mark in the wallpaper.  
  
Five minutes later, Aido calmly stepped through the thornbushes without getting so much as a scratch. In a clearing on the other side, Ash and his friends were waiting. All of them were dirty, and Ash had small tears in his clothing. Sean and Delia had opted to stay home rather than go tramping through the bushes, but they made their son - both of him - promise to tell them every little detail about the battle.  
  
Aido and Darkflame stood at the north end of the makeshift arena. "Ash, since this is our first battle, I think we should just battle as we would any other opponent. Be forewarned, I'm not going to go easy on you."  
  
"I wouldn't expect you to," Ash retorted, pulling out a Pokéball. "I'm ready when you are!"  
  
"Rules are as follows. Only one Pokémon against one Pokémon, no keeping a Pokémon out after its opponent faints. All attacks allowed. The trainer can choose to recall a Pokémon early, but in doing so they will forfeit that round. Got all that?"  
  
"Yeah," Ash replied, still holding up his Pokéball. "I'm set!"  
  
"Then let's begin." Aido smoothly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an odd-looking Pokéball. It was blue with black stripes, and gold dust glittered on the top half. He threw the Pokéball down onto the field. "Heracross, go!"  
  
Ash threw his Pokéball. "Butterfree, I choose you!"  
  
The two bug-type Pokémon materialized simultaneously. Ash's Butterfree was the first Pokémon Ash had ever caught, and although he had released him into the wild, Butterfree had returned to him the year before. Aido's Heracross, on the other hand, was a tough-looking bug of a high level earned through constant training and discipline.  
  
"Butterfree, Stun Spore!" Ash commanded.  
  
"Heracross, Mega Breeze!" Aido countered.  
  
Butterfree flapped his wings, and a yellow-orange dust began to settle over Heracross. But the horned insect Pokémon also began to move its wings, creating a gust of wind that carried the Sun Spore harmlessly away.  
  
"Tackle!" Ash called out.  
  
"Skull Bash!"  
  
The two insects met head-on. Heracross' horn slammed into Butterfree's head, knocking it silly. Butterfree tried to recover, but Heracross pinned it down.  
  
"Now a Delta Wave!" Aido ordered.  
  
Heracross began to glow yellow, and Butterfree went limp. He twitched for a moment, then stopped moving. Heracross ceased the attack, and stepped off of the Pokémon's wings. "Hera!"  
  
"Butterfree, return!" Butterfree vanished in a beam of red light. Ash was nervous. He'd never had his Pokémon shot down so quickly before. Pulling out another Pokéball, he sent out his shiny Noctowl.  
  
"Heracross, return." Aido replaced the fighting bug's Pokéball with a similar one, except purple instead of blue. "Misdreavous, your turn!"  
  
A pretty even match. Normal/Flying versus Ghost. Still, Ash was a bit worried. Mewtwo had set his machine to enhance all his clones. Who knows what it might have done to Aido?  
  
"Noctowl, Hypnosis!"  
  
"Misdreavous, Dark Mirror!"  
  
Noctowl's Hypnosis waves bounced off the dark shield Misdreavous put up around itself. The waves shone into Noctowl's eyes, causing it to fly erratically as if drunk.  
  
"Noctowl, try to shake the effects and use Foresight!"  
  
"Misdreavous, Nightmare Chomp!"  
  
Noctowl made an effort to shake the Hypnosis. It really did. But before it could finish, Misdreavous darted in and phased through its head. Noctowl screamed and fell to the ground, with Misdreavous reforming in front of Aido.  
  
"Noctowl, return! Go, Meganium!"  
  
Aido recalled Misdreavous and took out a green Pokéball of the same kind as the first two. "Go, Bladeon!"  
  
The Pokémon that appeared was a Grass type. Green in color, with leafy wings on its back, it looked mostly like an Eevee. Its short tail looked like a tree branch with leaf buds sprouting off of it. Its disproportionately huge ears looked like ferns, a ragged leaf-mane ringed its neck. "Bladeon!" it said in a very Eevee-like voice.  
  
"You like it, eh?" Aido said, obviously a bit proud of himself. "I found this little guy as an Eevee, hiding in an old shack in Lavender Town. He got too close to a Sun Stone, and...well, he evolved into what you see here. We've been together for years."  
  
"Neato!" Ash said.  
  
Aido grinned. "Yeah, isn't it? Bladeon, Vine Lash!"  
  
Ash was so surprised by the sudden twist that he was unable to counter fast enough. Bladeon extended a vine from its tail buds and slapped Meganium across the back, leaving deep welts. Meganium cried out and tried to move away, but Bladeon smacked her across the neck.  
  
"Ash is really getting trounced," Misty commented to Brock.  
  
"Aido's trained his Pokémon well," Brock agreed. "But Ash has had more experience as a trainer. I'd say they're fairly matched."  
  
"Yes, but don't forget," Erin cut in, "Mewtwo ENHANCED his clones. Whatever Ash's 'special ability' is, Aido's got that times ten."  
  
As one, they turned to look at Mewtwo, who was observing the battle with mild detachment. He barely spared them a glance. What?  
  
"Nothing," Misty and Brock chorused.  
  
By this point, Ash had switched Pokémon to Typhlosion and was trying to fend off the attacks of Aido's Dragonite. Typhlosion scored a hit with a Flame Wheel on Dragonite's chest, but the dragon type didn't seem to notice it. Dragonite rammed its small horn into Typhlosion's back and delivered an electric jolt through its antennae at the same time. Typhlosion, in return, bit Dragonite on the wing.  
  
Dragonite glanced down at the fire type, as if annoyed by a fly, and swatted Typhlosion fiercely across the head. The fire type went flying, slammed into a tree, and didn't get up.  
  
Ash was getting desperate. Four out of six matches belonged to Aido, now. His only hope was in Feraligatr and Pikachu. Keeping Pikachu as a last resort, he sent out the Johto water type to face whatever Aido's next Pokémon was.  
  
Aido almost lazily recalled Dragonite, and picked out a new Pokéball. This one was blue on the bottom, white on the top, and it had a black stripe through the center. Two purple-red circles that looked almost like eyes shone brightly from the top half of the ball, right over the activation button. "Crescent, go get 'em!"  
  
A youthful Lugia appeared on the battlefield. It was about ten feet long, making it a lot smaller than the one Ash had encountered at Shamouti. He looked around at the humans, then focused on the Feraligatr in front of him. I'm ready to groove, dude! the Lugia shouted, and laughed.  
  
"Crescent, knock off the jam," Aido said, amused. "You gotta get down with it. Shake off the funk."  
  
I hear ya, maaaaan, Crescent, the Lugia, agreed. Let's kick some butt. It's showtime!  
  
"Never thought I'd see the day where there'd be a punk Lugia," Brock whispered to Misty, and she hid a giggle.  
  
"Feraligatr, Hydro Slash!"  
  
Ash's Feraligatr, long since evolved from the fun-loving Totodile, lunged forward and swiped at the young Lugia while spraying water from its paws. Crescent almost lazily dodged, taking to the air above the other Pokémon's head.  
  
"Crescent, Elemental Blast!" Aido commanded.  
  
Whoa, awesome, a totally trippy attack! Crescent said before he closed his eyes. A rainbow-colored corona flared into being around him. It swarmed over his silvery feathers, migrating and concentrating near his beak. Then the Lugia opened his eyes, opened his mouth, and screamed, Here's lookin' at you, kids! and let loose a mighty iridescent beam of light.  
  
Feraligatr was nearly blown over by the attack, and doubled over in pain. Growling, it blinked red eyes at the young legendary bird and snarled.  
  
"Feraligatr, use Ice Lance!"  
  
The Feraligatr opened its claws as if grasping something, and a spear made entirely out of ice materialized. Hefting the heavy weapon, it hurled it at Crescent.  
  
"Crescent, dodge!"  
  
Crescent ducked, pirouetting and doing a barrel roll in midair to avoid the icy lance. Dude, bad vibes! he quipped. I'm sensin' hostilities, Cap'n!  
  
"All right, Crescent. Combination Hawk Dive and Twisted Psybeam!"  
  
Comin' up, mastah! Crescent gained altitude, shimmering as he did so with purple-blue energy. Then he dove down toward Feraligatr, spinning like a drill bit, and blasted the crocodile-like Pokémon with the Psybeam. Feraligatr went soaring through the air and slammed into the ground twenty feet away, out cold.  
  
Ash knew the battle was already lost, but he wanted to see if Aido could beat all of his Pokémon. He looked down at the yellow mouse, who was patiently sitting near his foot. "Pikachu, do you think you can handle it?" he asked.  
  
"Pika!" Pikachu answered confidently.  
  
"Okay then. Pikachu, I choose you!"  
  
Aido smiled, and held up the strange Pokéball. "Crescent, I know you can probably take him, but you're done for now. Return."  
  
See you cool cats later. Crescent saluted and disappeared in a flash of red light.  
  
Aido didn't even give one look to the Houndoom calmly standing next to him. "Darkflame, you're up." She leapt forward without hesitation, facing Pikachu.  
  
[You are good, small one, but you are no match for me,] Darkflame growled.  
  
[Think what you like,] Pikachu shot back. [And when we're done, you can kiss my tail.]  
  
"Cut the chatter, Darkflame. Midnight Fireball!"  
  
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~  
  
Author's Note: This was as far as we got, but if anyone would like to continue, please do so. I kind of got stuck and then lost interest in Pokemon altogether. 


End file.
